Anyone else on 1200 a day?

Welcome to the 1200calorie a day this doesnt work failure crew.
Eat at 1600calories for 2 weeks and call me in the morning!

you folks should compare numbers with other calculator websites.
Fat to Fit Radio has put out some awesome info and calculators on their tools page

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/

Do the military bodyfat calculator...i'll use my numbers as an example:

Here's the information that you entered:

Sex: male
Weight: 141 pounds
Neck: 15 inches
Waist: 32 inches
Hip: 35 inches
Based on this information, you have a lean body mass of 119 pounds. Your lean body mass includes everything in your body that's not fat. Now that we know your lean body mass, let's find out how much fat you're carrying around. We'll subtract your lean body mass from your weight and find you currently have 22 pounds of fat on your body.

Your body fat percentage is 15.6%.

Then do the BMR calculator. This tool gives you exactly what to eat per your activity level. again using my info.

Katch-McArdle Forumla
The numbers above are fairly accurate, however they don't take into account your lean body mass. A more accurate formula that does take your lean body mass into account is the Katch-McArdle formula. Since many of us have scales that will tell us our current body fat, this formula may yield more accurate results. Based on the information you provided, body fat percentage of 15%, you have a lean body mass of 120 lbs., and your BMR is 1548 calories.

How Many Calories Should I Eat?
Based on your goal weight, the following chart was generated. The chart shows the number of calories that you should eat on a daily basis to reach your goal weight. At Fat 2 Fit Radio we advocate eating like the thin, healthy person that you want to become. The calorie levels you see in the chart are not extreme, but they do create that all important caloric deficit that is required to get you to your goal weight in a safe manner. Once you reach your goal weight, you will continue eating the same number of calories for the rest of your life to maintain that weight. You'll never be on a diet again.

Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories in the right column will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point.

Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1852
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2122
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2392 <

---

This is me BTW.
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2662
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2932


Notice the BMR number of 1500? If I was eating at 1200 daily I would be robbing my vital organs of important nutrients. This is a metabolism killer and I wouldnt lose any weight after a while.

In fact i'm eating so well that even at 2500 calories a day i'm still losing .5lbs a week.
If I drop it down to 2200calories id probably lose a pound a week.
So to sum up...do the research before you start experimenting with your vital organs and hormones.
Eating too low could really screw you up!

Good luck!

I'm on 1200 and I can do it, but not every single day.

I get the best results from having a few days a week higher - 1500 range. I also don't eat low fat anything, and I eat whole foods - the entire egg, regular butter in small amounts, even mayo - the full fat kind. I find my satiety is much better with whole foods, and with more protein and fewer carbs than MFP provides.

The days I go higher, sometimes I exercise for the extra calories sometimes I don't. It feels like my progress stalls if I stick to a low number for a long period of time with no variation.

Oh, and one other thing: 1200 is painful for the first couple weeks, and I don't know if my stomach shrinks a little or I just calm down, but it gets much easier.

I did 1200 a day when I first started. When I lost 20 lbs. I upped it to 1 lb. a day. After the holidays I tried going back down to 1200 and I couldn't do it. I was so hungry, even with eating exercise calories, and on the days I don't happen to get any exercise, it gets way too difficult to stay in the calorie range. So I may lose slower but atleast I'm not feeling deprived.

I think that is the lowest you can go if you want to lose 2 pounds a week. I think that is the default. But I eat more whatever MFP tells me to because I exercise most days of the week. So I go to Curves and burn min 433 on the circuit and it adds in that many extra calories for me to eat. So I think I have to eat closer to about 1600 calories. But the weight is falling off.

Yo!
But I almost always eat close to 1600 cals and balance out the 400 with exercise - usually intense Iyengar or Ashtanga yoga.
It is gentle on the body, brings balance to mind and leaves me with sense of completeness that nothing else does.

I realize you can add in exercise to get to more calories, but sometimes it gets really hard to find that time (I travel for work). The most frustrating thing though is when I eat just under 1200 calories and then I get the warning note that I could send my body into starvation mode. A little wiggle room (no pun intended) would be nice......

I think the basics really matter such as the bread, the butter and the milk you are eating! Skimmed milk is the way to go but make sure you are getting all your vitamins through a supplement. If I do that... condiments as I call them dont take up too many calories! I also try to eat very little processed foods and find this also helps!! Had a vegetable curry the other day and I was so full!! 1200 really seems to be working this time round!!

bump

When I joined MFP last year and I was completing my goals it worked out my BMR, I have a sedentary job (I.T. in an office) so when I wanted to lose 2 lbs a week, the best it would do me was 1.3 lbs for 1,200 cals. I did this and did lose 19 lbs doing it but I found it difficult to stick to and when I did eventually fall off the wagon I fell off in style and put it all back on over 2-3 months plus an extra 3 lbs for fun.

Now I have adjusted my goals so that I want to lose a more realistically sustainable 1 lb a week. I don't want to feel I'm on a diet or I am depriving myself of any sort of food as that's when I get the chance for treat I would go mad and binge big time. I now have 1,440 cals a day and have more energy and am therefore exercising more. It's early days (11 days in!!) but I think that long term this is something I can see working.

I'm with franny. Same lifestyle etc - 1,200 does work well for me as far as loss goes but I find it HARD!! More motivation to exercise, but I've had to up it a few times because to be honest - for me, it's not enough to keep me happy! :-)

add a workout to your plan........ the longer the better. you can get an addl 500-700 cals to "eat" lolol